According to baseball-reference the 2022 Arizona Diamondbacks have a total team payroll of $82.2MM. Which ranks 24th out of the 30 MLB teams. To give you a little comparison for the 2022 season 6 teams have a total team payroll of over $200MM. If you take that number and make it $150MM the number of teams climb to 14. Then, if you make that number $100MM it includes 22 of the 30 teams. The 6 teams who are projected to spend less than the Diamondbacks for the 2022 season are Tampa Bay, Miami, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Baltimore and Oakland. Most of those teams are known for being cheap, that is not where the Diamondbacks want to live.
Who are the 6 highest players who make up the 2022 payroll, and because of their current contracts, should Arizona trade them away?
#6 Merrill Kelly- Kelly is one of the few players that is signed for more than 3 years on the Dbacks. He just signed a 4-year contract that will pay him $5.25MM in 22, $8.5MM in 2023 and 24 with a $7MM team option (where the Diamondbacks decide if they want to pay him the $7MM) or they buy out the contract for $1MM.
Who is Merrill Kelly? He is a league-average pitcher. Hard hit rate, line drive, ground ball, home run, and fly ball percentage are all within 1 percentage point of league average. Being league average is not bad, he keeps you in games, but he rarely dominates them as an elite starter would.
Mark Melancon- is the fifth highest paid player for the 2022 season. He signed a 2 year $14MM contract this past off-season. The money is divided into $6MM this season and $6MM next season with a $5MM mutual option (both the team and the player must agree on the $5MM contract) with a $2MM buyout.
Who is Mark Melancon? This year, he is a borderline disaster. He is 1-6 as far as a record. In 18 games he has 11 saves he has given up 14 earned runs with 11 strikeouts and an ERA of 6.87. This season is not in line with his previous 12 seasons, but, he has never been 37 years old until this season either as of 6/11.